White House Makes 1st Gender-Neutral Bathroom Available
— -- The White House's first gender-neutral bathroom is now open.
The "all-gender bathroom" was first made available this past Wednesday, the same day Obama's executive order expanding protections for federal employees against discrimination became federal law, White House spokesman Jeff Tiller told ABC News.
Though the gender-neutral bathroom is located in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, anyone can use whatever bathroom they feel best fits their gender identity, Tiller said. The Eisenhower Executive Office Building is located near the West Wing of the White House and used by White House staff.
“The White House allows staff and guests to use restrooms consistent with their gender identity, which is in keeping with the administration’s existing legal guidance on this issue and consistent with what is required by the executive order that took effect [Wednesday] for federal contractors," Tiller told ABC News in a prepared statement.
LGBTQ+ advocates are praising the White House's bathroom policy and new federal law.
"It is heartening to see that, even if legislators in some states are attacking the dignity and humanity of transgender and gender-nonconforming people, at least the White House is still moving in the direction of dignity and common sense," Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, told ABC News today in a statement.
